Telephonic apparatus and system.



E. E. CLEMENT.

TELEPHQNIG APPARATUS AND SYSTEM.

APPLIOA'1IONIILBDNOV.13,1907. RENEWED JULY 20.1914.

1,109,622, Patented Sept. 1, 1914 3 SHEETS SHEET 1.

Q r n @0300 E. E. CLEMENT.

TELEPHONIO ARPARATUS AND SYSTEM.

APILIOATIOK FILED NOV.13, 1907. RENEWED JULY 20, m4

Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

3 sanmvsunnfz.

auoenfoz WE l t lease:

B. E. CLEMENT.

TELEPHONIC APPARATUS AND SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1907. RENEWED JULY 20. 1914 1,109,622, Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

anvantoz Witnesses 7.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD E. CLEMENT. OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

TELEPHONIC APPARATUS AND SYSTEM.

Original application filed July 15, 1907. Serial No. 383.875.

Renewed July 20. 1914.

1897, Serial No. 402.029.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

Divided and this application filed November 13.

Serial No. 852.088.

To HZZ NIL-om it may con/c2 22.

Be it known that l, Enwano E. CLnimN'r. a citizen of the United States, residing at ashin g'ton, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful linprovenients in Tclephoni Apparatus and Systems. ol which the following is a specification, retermice living had therein to the acompa nyinp; drawing.

My invention relate to telephonic apparatus and systems, and hasfor its object the prraluctiou of an improved and l'iighly cilicient impulse transmitter which may be used in systems employing automatic switches for the purpme of interconnecting lines.

The machine l shall describe is applicable to many classes ot systems. not all of which can be described herein, but some of which are disclosed in my prior applications, among; other as follows: Serial Num ers 309.010. Mai-eh a0, moo, (tile 847); 323,090. 7

June 22. 1906. (tile 84$?) 328.723, August 1, 1906. (file S52); 32 .096. June. .23. 1906; 328 251. July ll. 1? (M6858); 383.875, July 15. .907. (file 1137).

While the subje t matter hereof is disclosed in several ol' the foregoing: appl cations. especially in Serial No. 326.251. the present case is specifi ally a division of the last named applicati m Serial No. 383.875.

In the systems "eterred to. subscribers lines are intereonnectci'l by means of auto matic switches actuated by electron'iagnetic st'ep-l \rltep mechani ms. lnipulses of current are su 'iplicd to the elcctromagncts through the :uvitching circuits a determined by operators at the central fiice through the. ag n y of push buttons or keys arranged after the fashion of the buttons on an adding machine or the kcvs on a typewriter. Leadin to each set of keys are ten Wires. upon which For each cycle are imposed successively diminishing numbers of impulses from ten down to one. 7 By connecting any one of these wires to the switching circuits through the c rresponding key, the number of im pulses normal to that wire may be conveyed to the switche These ten wires are supplied with their impulses from one or more machines of the type presented to their respective wires, is such that the controlling sp ings make and bre k their contacts at points of zero potential on the main commutator bus wire, or in other words they break the circuit when the commutator springs are already open. By this means I avoid sparking at any terminals other than those on the commutator which may be made very heavy and if necessary of material to resist the effects of sparking, such as carbon.

hly invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a side view of the drum and its eounectml parts. Fin". 3 is an end view theraof Fig. 2% an opposite end view showing, the drivinp motor and worm gear. Fig. 1 is a diagram on a reduced scale show. inn the surface of the. drum. developed in a plane. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the circuits oi the machine.

eferring to the drawi 1 and 2 indi- 'ato standards in which is rotatably mounted a shaft 3. To this is fixed a worm wheel 27 which engages with a worm 5 rotatably mounted upon the. standard Also secured upon the shaft 3 is a drum (3, the surface of which carries cam projections adapted to operate contacts mounted adjacent to the surface.

In the 'iresent instance the contacts operated by the drum are mounted upon a bar or plate 7 which extends longitudinally over the surface of the drain and is sup l ported by arms 8 and 9 which extend from other splin s. which mere y apply impulscs' so l the supports 1 and lunch of the pairs of contacts (see Fig. 2 particularly) comprises t\.o contacts 10 and 11 which are located one ahove the other and are so mounted as to he insulated from each other. The contact 10 is maintained in elevated position hy means of a stud 12 which rests upon the plate 7 and. passing through the lower contact l1. ahuts against the lower side of the contact 10. The lower contact 11 tends to occupy its lowest position but may be moved upwardly into engagement with the contact 10 by means of an insulating stud or plug 13 which ahuts against the lower side of the contact 11 and, passing through the plate 7. has its lower end in position to be engaged h v the drum so that when an elevated portion thereof is encountered. the plug will he raised and the contact 11 thrown against the contact 10; while conversely a less elevated portion of the drum will permit the plug to fall and the contacts 10 and 11 to separate. At the extreme left-hand of the drum (see Fig. 1) are arranged equally spaced elevations 11 so that as the drum turns the pair of contacts 10 and 11 will he moved into and out oi contact at equally recurring intervals. At the other end of the drum it will he seen that there are suhstantialtv shaped ehwations 15, the angular edges of which are saw-toothcd so that the successive sections of the drum upon which the plugs oi the contact pairs u. l. c.. etc. hear drum turns. are all of progressively increasing length so that the plug of the contact pair 1/ will he elevated and therefore its contacts closed for a certain interval. the plug of the pair 7; will he elevated For a greater interval. the plug of the pair c will e elevated for a still greater interval. and so on to the plug of the pair which is held elevated for the longest interval. Those elcvations on the drum section over which thc plug correspoiuling to the contacts (1 passes,

triangular as the for this will he clear upon reference to Fig. .3. wherein are shown circuits of the sending maclyinc itself and also of a key set cooperating therewith. The general arrangement is such that individual wires 32 pass from the several pairs of springs a, b, 0, d, c. f, y. /z.. i. j, and are multipled to the cor responding individual operators keys OK, OK. ()Iv". etc. The springs Z, Z, m, n, 0 and .v are controlling springs. the first five controlling the relays R to R" inclusive, which determine the connection of the successive strips of keys OK, OK, etc., for sending purposes. The spring sets (1, 1', control -crtain circuits which have no direct connect on with 'the key set but atfect certain othcr parts of the system. The commutator teeth 11 open and cl se the springs 10---11 so as to produce impulses in the wire 31, and so through the respective pairs of springs u. 7 c, etc., to whichever button may he down. and thence hy the common wlres 170. 176 etc.. through the respective relay contacts MIN). etc.. to the common wire 83, which passes to the apparatus which the impulses are intended to actuate. Since the springs n. 1/. c. 1/. etc.. are held closed continuously. each for a period sutiicient to allow a ninnhcr of impulses to pass. and since the individual impulses are all prodnccd hy the springs 10 11. which are always apart at the instant when any of the springs (1. l c. etc.. separate. it follows i that there is no SPiH'lilllQ' except at the contacts 10 -11. which can he made. heavy enough and ot' the proper material to withstand the etl'ccts of such sparking.

Arranged alongside ot' the elevations 15 are other elevations in which are circuml'crcntialtv co cxtcnsive with their respective elevations l3 and are displaced longitudioal! upon the drum so as to he in echelon are of such lcng'th that the plug will hel while the contacts 10 -11 of the commutator are made once. Similarly the pair 7/ will he held closed while the contacts 10-11 are made twice and so on to the pair j, the plug of which is held elevated while the contacts 10 41 are made ten times. avoid the hrcaking of current upon other In order to ontacts than the pair 10 1], it is preferred to make the levations operating the contacts to j of such lengths that their re spcctiu plugs will pass oft those elevations after the plug corresponding to the contacts 10 ll has passed off an elevation. As already stated in the prcainhlc this avoids arcing at other contacts than the pair 10 1t and'docs awa with the necessity for rc ncwal f any other contacts except under cxtraordimn'y circumstances. The reason I contacts closed.

lhcrcon. and o that during the passage of an clcvation I?) under the c nta t plugs. the

ttil'l' ly llflllltllll chvation u; will he passing maintained elevated and its contacts closed. under onc ot thcplu il's ot' the hairs of con tacts to o, Thus during the passage of the elevation 15 shown at the top of the diiwing in Fig. l. the corresponding elevation 11' will maintain the plug of the contact pair clr--'atc(l and those contacts closed. During the passage of the next elevation 15 the corresponding elevation 16 will hold the plug of the contact air Z uplifted and those Similar]; other elevations of the same nature will maintain their contacts cl sed during the passage of their cor responding elevations 15. These elevations to correspond to the respective sets of push huttons employed in the systems aforesaid j and which may he employed in any system in which impulses are [J he transmitted in varying numhers. ()ther elevations 17 and 18 are provided upon the surface of the (see "F -1). These castings are fitted attheir meeting edges in any suitable manner as by meansof a rabbet joint or the like, and they are firmly secured together by bolts 23 extending from end to end of the frame.

In order to drive this machine, I may empoy any suitable motor, but for purposes 0 motor 24 secured by suitable couplings 25 to the worm shaft '26 whose worm threads intermesh with the main 'ear 27 mounted on the central shaft 3., In t e telephone systems referred to I have foundthat 12 revolutions per minute is the right speed and the worm and gear have therefore been cut so as to reduce the speed of. the motor 24 from approximately 1800 revolutions per minute -to 12; but of course this reduction depends "on the motorand can be made anything de sired.

Fig. 3 not only shows the motor but also shows the cam projections 15 in side elevation. There is one of these shorter than the others, shown as just beginning to pass under the plug of the contact pair 1'. This short cam is intended to give only four impulses instead of ten and is especially designed for selective ringing purposes in the telephone systems aforesaid. i

I am aware that sundry changes may be made in the details of the machine here presented'and I do not therefore wish to confine myself to the actual specific details here described. For example, the cams may be made so as to give any desired number of impulses in a group, and there may be only one cam effect or group of impulses per cycle or rotation, etc. l\[y claims are therefore to be broadly construed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a telephone exchange system, automatic switches, and means for producing impulses to work the switches, in combination with a controlling or sending machine therefor comprising the following instrumentalities: a supporting frame fitted with suitable bearings, a drum having a shaft mounted to turn insaid bearings a motor connected to said drum, a plurality of contact springs illustration I have. shown an electric overlying the drum, and cams of different lengths on the surface of the drum adapted to work said springs to make and break their contacts during correspondingly different periods of time, whereby different numbers of impulses will be transmitted.

2. An impulse transmitter or sending machinecomprising a frame with bearings, a selective cam drum or wheel mounted to turn in said bearings, a commutator havin a con-- tinuous set of teeth and associated with said cam drum, a contact overlying said commutatOr, a plurality of other springs overlying the cams; on the drum, and operating studs for said springs, transmitting motionfrom the cams to the springs when the drum is rotating, said cam actuated springs being connected on one side by a common conductor to-the' commutator contact and on the other side to diverse circuits and serving to distribute the impulses from the commutator contact into said. circuits.

I}. An impulse transmitter Orsending machine comprising a frame with bearings,--a

cam drum or wheel mounted toturn in said.

bearings, a commutator having a continuous set of teeth and associated with said cam 'drum, a pair of sprmgs overlying ,com-

mutator with an operating stud transmitting I motion therebetween, a plurality of-pther' springs overlying cams -on the drum, and operating studs for. said springs, transmitting motion from-the camsto the springs.

when the drum is rotated, said camfsprings being connected to diverse circuits and serving to distribute the impulses from. the commutator springs-into said circuits,- and the cams on the drum being proportioned with respect to the teeth on the commutator as to make and break when there is zero potential on the commutator springs, that is to say when the latter are opened, so 'that all sparking will be confined to-said commutator springs.

4. An impulse transmitter'or sending machine comprising an impulse generating device, and an impulse distributing device comprising distributing make and break contacts,-in series with said impulse generating device, and means for selectively operating said contacts to send impulses over a given circuit, said last named operating means being timed with respect to the impulse generating device to operate dlStl'lbUt .ing contacts at break periods between said impulses.

5. In combination, an impulse commutator, and an impulse selector and transmitter,

the former producing a continuous series of mutator, between the periods of impulse production thereof, whereby sparking at the transmitter contacts is prevented, substantially as described;

6. In combination, a continuous impulse producer, and an impulse selector and transmitter comprising one element connected to the impulse producer, and a plurality of cooperating elements connected to transmis- 10 SlOIl circuits, with meansto determine the activity of one or more of said elements at EDWARD E. CLEMENT.

Witnesses:

E. EDMONSTON, Jr., JAMES H. MARR. 

